Afghanistan/Relocation of UN Personnel, Niger, Peacekeeping & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

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18-Aug-2021 01:31:40
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

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A group of UN personnel is traveling today from Kabul to Almaty in Kazakhstan, where they will continue their work remotely. We thank the Government of Kazakhstan for the offer to host a temporary remote office of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. As the Secretary-General told the Security Council on August 16th, the United Nations presence in Afghanistan will adapt to the security situation. In light of the security and other constraints in Kabul and other parts of the country at the moment, it was decided to move a part of the UN staff out of the country. Personnel will return to Afghanistan as conditions permit.

The Secretary-General strongly condemns yet another attack by unidentified gunmen on civilians in Niger that took place on 16 August in the department of Banibangou, in the Tillabéri region.

This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the Security Council at a high-level debate on technology and UN peacekeeping.

In Haiti, our UNICEF colleagues estimate about 1.2 million people – that’s including 540,000 children – are affected by the earthquake.

Turning to Ethiopia, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that the situation in Tigray remains unpredictable and volatile, while movement of Tigray forces in Amhara and Afar provinces continues.

I have five new Resident Coordinators to announce today. Stefan Priesner of Austria took up his new post as Resident Coordinator in Iran on August 16th, while, next Friday, Barbara Manzi of Italy will start as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burkina Faso and Karima El Korri of Morocco will start as the Resident Coordinator in Malaysia, which also covers Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. On August 22nd, Yesim Oruc of Turkey will start her new role as the Resident Coordinator in Guyana, while Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro of Italy assumes his duties as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Venezuela on August 23rd.

Ecuador received a shipment of more than 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday from COVAX which were donated by Spain.

Today marks three years since we lost Kofi Annan, our former Secretary-General.

For further details please see SOURCE below.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General
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